AFRICA AFRICA AFRICA

Hey everyone!!!

OMG Africa is totally crazy. It is so different and scary and amazing all at the same time. this is the first time I've been able to find a computer let alone the internet, so I'm sorry for anyone (MUM AND DAD) who may have been pulling their hair out and biting their nails waiting for some news for me.

Right at this very moment I am sitting in the upper level of a thatched roof house above the bar and restaurant at The Water Front Lodge. It is on, literally on the Zambezi River which forms the border from Zambia (the side I'm on) to Zimbabwe and various other countries.

I have so far been at this lodge for one night adjusting to life in a tent (albeit a pre-errected luxury tent with beds, a light and extra blankets and a fluffy pillow) and tonight is the first night of ruffing it in the same tents and mattresses we use for the next 21 nights. So much to tell you that I'm doing but I'm not sure about how much time I can afford to pay for but I'll try my best. Its a bit hard too 'cos the keyboards are a bit different to Aus. I'll start at the best place...the start

Saying goodbye at the airport to my boy Nick was very difficult, I thought I'd already cried out all of my tears the previous night, but I was wrong. So yeah, sad and yeah..miss you baby.

But the next thing I was on the plane and thinking 'my adventure has started' so I got a bit happier and the flight to Sydney was okay. THEN I got really happy when I got on my plane for the 14 hour flight to Johannesburg and read my interactive plane entertainment. Oh my god...ok so a great selection of movies at the cinema now, all genres, like heaps, heaps of them...as well as classic movies and a lot of great TV shows and CDs and just everything on this screen in front of me...so remote in hand I just went nuts.

From then on everything has been smooth sailing, no more tears Nick, I'm having a blast. Hope you're okay

The airport at Jo'burg was an eye opener. Took about an hour to get through customs...so dodgy, a lot different to Australian. And then the second we stepped out into the main part the culture just hit us. Straight away a tall dark dude grabbed our bags and whisked us off to the buses for transfers to hotels. Then he asked for $50 Australian for doing so. We only had US$ plus there was a giant sign at the airport saying to not pay porters in foreign currency as it's a federal offence. So we all crapped ourselves and are like we have none, then he got a bit angry so we crapped ourselves further...Sharon gave him AUS$5 and he seemed disappointed but thankfully left. So in our first five minutes we broke the law! whoops.

The Grand Airport Hotel sure was grand. It was huge, our room luxurious and we stayed for one night. With an early transfer back to the airport we were met by a massive buffet breakfast. Everything you could ever imagine for breakfast plus more was on offer. I stuffed myself silly.
Flight to Livingstone (Zambia) on a tiny plane and ikky food, but it was ok cos my stomach was totally full already. Got off the plane and a completely different scene to South Africa met us. A teeny airport, relaxed customs, easy. Except...at the front of the line Ash and I found out that our application to get our Visas waived 'didn't arrive' (even though Tristan and Sharon applied on same form and did get them waived) so we had to pay : (

Nothing to report on the first night, other than what i said before, luxury tent but it was located near the pool. We were a bit paranoid about all of the mosquitos around so we smothered in Ridd and settled in for an early night...so tired.

Next day (today) you would never believe it but we went and interaction with some giant lions....not only that but we crossed to Zimbabwe (bit scary). We had to get up extremely early, pack our giant bags which didn't work too successfully for me because I am terrible at it. Just finished in time to be picked up for a transfer to the border. At the border we found out that 'cos Ash and I had only a single entry visa we had to pay not only to get into Zimbabwe but also to get back into Zambia. The border was spooky. Lots of people trying to sell stuff, people begging for money (a lady in a Tshirt saying 'help for aids' and the kids hit me hard), lots of giant baboons and heaps of huge semi trailers lined up ready to cross the border and waiting to be custom checked. The semis were taking up almost a whole side of an already skinny and dodgy road so going around corners...very fast might i add, the drivers are usually in a hurry here...not being able to see if there's one coming the other way was very daunting. Shut my eyes...total wuss.

The lions were worth all of it. They were so cute and docile and although I felt a bit sorry for them in the first place, they are part of a breeding program to put them back in the wild, so i figure...good cause. The poachers are nuts here so the animals need all the help they can get. Last night at the rhino walk one rhino was poached and the other maimed so he won't live : ( and they (I think) were the only ones on the whole of Zambia. So anyway...the lions were 18 months old and sooooooo gorgeous. We walked a bit track through the bush with them, patting them, holding their tails and watching them play. I got lotsa cool shots, which I'll add when internet is cheaper.

Tomorrow once again we must get up early to visit the Victoria Falls, which we have already seen from a distance, hear at night time and see the spray at the river. So cool. Can't wait. So the falls in the morning and then our tour officially begins.

There are 23 people on our tour, lotsa Aussies, some British, and an Iceland couple. The Iceland dude is actually a doctor so I feel pretty safe and an Aussie chick is a nurse. The guides seem really cool and funny. They're Kenyan and yeah they're just cool. The truck is cool. Everythings cool.

My neck is beginning to burn sitting here cos it was hot today and I sat by the pool sunbaking....SUNBAKING. Haha you guys in your Ballarat, rainy, crappy, cold winter. HaHaHa. Nah, I hope everything's ok. I want updates in my inbox from you all about what's going on. Want to here everything. If anyone doesn't alreayd have me email its water_baby24@hotmail.com so write away. Also, i know that a few of you might be worried that I could run out of money and be stranded...fear not as I haven't even bought anything to keep yet, only food and drinks and now internet.

I may not be able to be updating this for the tour cos i really don't know how often i can get on but just know i am in very safe hands, eating well, getting a tan and having a ball.

Love you all

MWA